Packetboat documentation

Packetboat is a dual-pane file-transfer client for SFTP, FTP/FTPS, and cloud storage. This guide covers everything from installing to the finer points of the Site Manager. New to it? Start with Installing and Your first connection.

Installing

Download the installer for your platform from the latest release. Each release lists exactly which file to grab for your system:

• Windows — …_x64-setup.exe (installer) or the .msi.
• macOS (Apple Silicon) — …_aarch64.dmg. Intel — …_x64.dmg.
• Linux — .deb (Debian/Ubuntu), .rpm (Fedora/RHEL), or the portable .AppImage.

Your first connection

1. Open Packetboat. The left pane is your local computer; the right pane is the remote server (empty until you connect).
2. In the Quick Connect bar, pick a protocol, enter the host, username, password, and port, and click Quickconnect.
3. Once connected, drag files between the two panes — or double-click a file to send it to the other side.

Connecting often? Save the server in the Site Manager so you can reconnect in one click.

Quick Connect

The bar across the top is the fastest way to connect to a one-off server: choose SFTP, FTPS, or FTP, fill in the host / username / password / port, and hit Quickconnect. For cloud storage or anything you'll revisit, use the Site Manager instead.

Protocols & encryption

Packetboat speaks four kinds of backend through one interface:

• SFTP — SSH file transfer. The most common, secure default.
• FTP / FTPS — with a per-site encryption setting: require explicit TLS, opportunistic (“use TLS if available”), implicit TLS, or plain FTP.
• Cloud storage — Amazon S3 (and S3-compatible), Backblaze B2, and WebDAV. See Cloud storage.

FTP also has a per-site transfer mode (passive is the default and works behind most NAT/firewalls; active is available when a server needs it).

Certificates & host keys

Packetboat verifies who you're connecting to, and asks before trusting something new — trust-on-first-use, the same model as an SSH client:

• SFTP host keys — the server's key is recorded on first connect. If it ever changes, you're warned (a possible man-in-the-middle) and the connection is refused until you clear the old key.
• FTPS certificates — trusted CA certificates with a matching hostname connect silently. For a self-signed or mismatched certificate, you get a prompt showing the subject, issuer, fingerprint, and validity so you can decide whether to trust it.

Saved passwords and cloud secrets live in your OS keychain (Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or the Linux Secret Service) — never in a plain-text file.

Cloud storage

Add a cloud service from the Site Manager: pick Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, or WebDAV from the protocol dropdown and fill in the per-service fields (bucket, region, endpoint, keys). Once connected, a bucket browses just like any other server — same dual-pane, same drag-and-drop, same streaming transfers with live progress. Non-secret settings are saved with the site; access keys and secrets go to the OS keychain.

1Password

Prefer not to store a password at all? Choose the 1Password logon type and paste a secret reference like op://Vault/Item/password. Packetboat resolves it with the 1Password CLI at connect time — only the reference (a pointer, not the secret) is saved. Use the Test button to confirm it resolves.

Browsing

• Dual panes & folder trees — navigate local and remote independently, each with a tree and a file list.
• Tabs — open several remote connections at once; each tab remembers its own local and remote folder.
• Synchronized browsing — a per-site option that mirrors navigation between the two panes, so opening a folder on one side opens the matching folder on the other.
• Multi-select — click, Ctrl-click, Shift-click, or drag a rubber-band box to select several files, then drag or delete them together.
• Type-ahead — click a pane and start typing a name to jump to it; repeat a letter to cycle through matches.

Transferring files

There are several ways to move a file:

• Drag and drop between panes, onto a folder in the list or tree, or from your file manager into the app.
• Double-click a file to send it to the other pane.
• Whole folders transfer recursively — the folder structure is recreated on the other side and each file gets its own progress row.

Transfers stream with live per-file progress in the queue, and several run at once (configurable in Settings). Interrupted transfers can resume from where they left off. Each row shows the direction, file, server, and paths; failed transfers retry automatically and can be retried by hand.

File conflicts

When a file you're transferring already exists at the destination, Packetboat asks what to do — or applies your saved rule:

• Overwrite, overwrite if newer, or if the size differs.
• Resume an interrupted transfer from the partial file.
• Rename (keep both) or Skip.

In the prompt you can apply your choice just this time, for this session, or set it as the saved default (per direction, in Settings → Transfers). On Windows, characters that aren't allowed in filenames are replaced on download — you choose the replacement character.

Site Manager

The Site Manager is your address book of servers. Save a site to reconnect in one click, group your credentials, and keep secrets in the keychain.

Saving & duplicating

New site creates one; fill in the details on the right and Save. Select a site and press Duplicate to copy it (handy for two accounts on the same host). Select several with Ctrl/Shift to delete or export them together.

Importing

Import… reads a FileZilla site export (.xml) or a Packetboat export (.json). Duplicates are handled per-site (skip / overwrite / keep both), and passwords move into your keychain.

Exporting & encryption

Export… saves the selected sites (or use the ▾ menu for all sites) as either a Packetboat JSON backup or a FileZilla XML file. The Packetboat format is a complete, re-importable backup.

Settings

Open Settings from the toolbar gear. It's organized into three tabs:

• General — theme (dark / light / match system), what to do when you're already connected, show/hide the message log and transfer queue, close to system tray, and desktop notifications when the queue finishes in the background.
• Transfers — how many transfers run at once (overall and per-direction), the default action when a file exists (for downloads and uploads), and invalid-filename-character replacement.
• Updates — see Updates.

Updates

Packetboat can update itself from signed releases. In Settings → Updates, toggle automatic checks and choose how often (on every launch, daily, weekly, or monthly), or press Check now. When an update is available you'll be prompted to install and restart. Installing an update needs the packaged app (not a development build), and only published, non-pre-release versions are offered.

Troubleshooting

“Couldn't check for updates”

The updater only works in the installed app, and needs a published release to compare against. If you just built from source, that's expected.

An FTP transfer stalls or fails intermittently

Some servers are flaky on the data connection. Packetboat detects stalls, retries automatically, and reconnects on a fresh session — most transfers recover on retry. If one keeps failing, try a different filename or check the server's connection limits.

A certificate or host-key warning

A changed host key or certificate is refused on purpose — it can mean the server changed, or something is intercepting the connection. If you trust the change, remove the old entry (the warning tells you where) and reconnect.

macOS says the app is “damaged”

See Installing — it's the unsigned-build quarantine flag, cleared with one xattr command.